Biological Flashcards
(32 cards)
Maguire - aim
Find out whether the hippocampus might also show plasticity among humans
Maguire - sample
16 right handed male London taxi drivers aged between 32-62 years
Chosen because all London taxi drivers have to learn the knowledge - every road within a 6 mile radius of Charing Cross -particularly stony demand on spatial memory
Maguire - procedure
All taxi drivers had a MRI scan of their of brain
Compared against a control group
Analysed in 2 ways :
- Pixel counting - 2D measurement of the area
- Vixal- based morphometry - 3D measurement of the volume
Volume of grey matter measured
Maguire - findings
Significant difference was found between the two groups of grey matter found in the hippocampus
Compared against the control - taxi driver had significantly more grey matter in the posterior and significantly less grey matter in the anterior
Maguire - procedure - correlation
MRI scans of taxi driver subjected for more analysis
Correlation between length of Tim - in years - as a taxi driver and volume of grey matter in the hippocampus
Maguire - findings - correlation
Positive correlation- posterior
Negative correlation- anterior
Casey - background
Mischel - marshmallow test
Low delayers - give into temptation - ate marshmallow
High delayers - resist temptation - waited for 2 marshmallows
Casey - aim
Whether people who had difficulties delaying gratification at the age of 4 would still have difficulties delaying gratification 40 years later
Casey - sample
Was taken from people who had participated in the original marshmallow test
27 low delayer and 32 high delayers - 59
Casey - study 1 - procedure
Cool ( neutral / not appealing) - female / male
Hot ( alluring) - frustrated - no smiling - go
GO/NO GO task
Go - press button
No/ go - don’t press the button
Key trial - hot stimuli is NOGO
Casey - study 1 - conclusion
High delayers were found to be much better at resisting pressing the go button when they saw the happy faces than the low delayers
Casey -study 2-aim
Brain based explanation for the ability to delay gratification
Casey -study 2 -sample
27 of 59 agreed to take part -11low delayers and 15 high delayers
Casey -study 2 -procedure
Repeat Go/No task -whilst inside a fMRI
Casey - study 2 - findings
Inferior frontal gyrus - cool system- resisting temptation
HD more
LD less
Ventrial striatum - hot system - temptation
HD less
LD more
Sperry - background
Previous studies have shown that each hemisphere of the brain controls the opposite side of the body - contra lateral control
Sperry - aim
To study the effects of hemisphereic de- connection and the functions of the separate hemispheres
Sperry - research methods
Self report - quasi
Sperry - sample
11 patients who had severe epilepsy and who had previously undergone a commisurotomy - compared Agilent those who did not the surgery
Sperry - procedure, findings and conclusions
Objects were presented into the right visual field - info went to left hemisphere- participants can describe it in speech and written format
Sperry - procedure, findings and conclusions
Objects were presented in the left visual field - info to right hemisphere- participants insist that they’ve not seen anything - RH does not have language ability - if you asked to point to a matching object on the table with their left hand they could and could draw it
Sperry - procedure, findings and conclusions
Different visual stimuli were presented simultaneously to different visual fields and ps were asked to draw what that had seen - Apple - RH - key - LH - they said they had seen a key but only able to draw an apple
Sperry - procedure, findings and conclusions
Simple mathematical problems were presented to the left visual field - right hemisphere - can process mathematical info - were able to sort objects by shape, size , texture - using left hand could also solve simple arithmetic or addition
Sperry - procedure, findings and conclusions
A nude pin up was presented to the left visual field - right hemisphere- participants would giggle , look embarrassed when nude picture appears - they could not say what they were giggling and embarrassed about
